Year: 2026 | Month: June | Volume 71 | Issue 2
Is Potato Natural Farming Better off than Conventional Farming in North Eastern Hill Region of India?
Snehal Athawale
Ram Singh and Gelung Pertin
DOI:10.46852/0424-2513.2.2026.14
Abstract:
Potato being the key component of the food system of the communities residing North Eastern Hill Region (NEHR) of India, where the farming is practiced in the traditional way. The present study was conducted in the state of Meghalaya, in the three blocks, Ri-Bhoi, West Garo Hills and West Jaintia Hills. Primary data was collected from 56 natural farmers and 34 conventional farmers, for the year 2023-24. The growth rate in production and productivity at the world, India, and Ri-Bhoi District found to be positive. The study highlights potential gender-based variations in labour requirements, observing natural farming as labour intensive farming. The total cost of potato cultivation was lower in natural farming by 4 per cent. Although the yield was lower in natural farming but the net returns was significantly higher than conventional farming by mean difference of ` 4898.93 per hectare. There was a significant difference in the cost of human labor and FYM. Allocative efficiency suggested that the use of FYM and human labour should be increased, while the use of planting material should be reduced to achieve optimal input allocation, henceforth maximizing yield and returns.
Highlights
- Approximately 14 per cent more labour days was utilized under potato natural farming than conventional farming
- In both natural and conventional farming, the per cent of total female labour utilization was observed to be higher than total male labour.
- Natural farming was found to be more profitable than conventional farming
- FYM and human labour were found to be underutilized whereas, planting material was found to be overutilized in potato both farming.
© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
Print This Article Email This Article to Your Friend
